5 Songs That Are Quintessentially Melbourne
On Monday I went to a live gig for the first time in 12 months. Cash Savage and The Last Drinks at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. It was an utterly Melbourne experience. One of those pinch-yourself-for-living-here moments.
As well as being a hell of a show— it was an ode to the difficult year Melbourne’s live music scene has endured. As Cash said maybe four or five times through the set:
It’s just really, really nice to be up here again.
Cash and her band play a brand of punky, jazzy, country rock-n-roll that makes you proud to be in the same room. A mix of songs that move you to dance. And songs that just move you.
It made me think about the musical acts that are quintessentially Melbourne. So here are five tracks that give me the Melbourne fuzzies every damn time. Some new, some really old. Not all nice and uplifting. The last one is Cash Savage and the Last Drinks’ latest single Good Citizens. A poignant song that holds a mirror up to at-the-pub-misogyny. This version hits especially hard — performed by an all-male, all-Melbourne choir.
At the bottom of the article is a Spotify playlist I put together with these and a whole heap of other Melbourne greats through the ages.
Well it’s been on my brain, so fuck it
Carol you’re my spade, I’m your bucket
I’m going to die with a twinkle in my eye, cause I sung songs, spun stories, loved, laughed, and drank wine
The paramedic thinks I’m clever ’cause I play guitar
I think she’s clever cos she stops people dying
You know you bore me stupid
With your growing economic plans
And everybody thinks an arts degree is an economic inefficiency
And everybody thinks that boys don’t cry but girls do
